You should not be satisfied unless your design is perfect. This is my philosophy. Loved reading this post.

Wow, what a collection of really good quotes. A lot of us are perfectionists, but eventually we learn to let go - realizing that being anal retentive never improved the situation. Eye and attention for detail is one thing, that’s good - but anal is not. You’ll drive yourself mad.

so good. so useful… thanks for this post. i can’t say what i want but i try…;) ( My english is not well )
I always have this problem… ((( it is the clients that they try to satisfy and not their ownselves. ))).
I live in Iran and you can’t Believe that been a graphic designer in my country is unbearable. the country with so many low to Limit you in any kind of art… if you can satisfy yourself and your client… usually you cant satisfy the low))) for example if they can see the form of women body in your conceptual art… your work will absolutely destroy… Even if there where no women body…
sorry for Badinage… i just want to say: i trying and try and try to satisfy myself but Until now I Can’t. hope this post can help me
Finally… Perfection or Satisfaction? both of them are Inaccessible. but I’m steel Hopeful…

I am a graphic designer and I am far from a perfectionist. I have a number of friends who have helped me with projects but never again because they try to obtain perfection and it ends up looking the same as it did in the beginning… if you’re bothered by something in your design leave it for a day and when you come back to it the next day you probably won’t even notice or remember what the problem was.

enjoyed your article really nice thanks for share

i enjoy reading this post, thanks to you writer, i guess is not just for designers but it cut across all spheres. thanks for giving me some thoughts.

I think that when minimalistic design is treated as a trend, this is already allowing graphic designers to become lazy. The entire idea of minimalism is function over form, while those that see it as a trend will only concentrate on the form. Treating minimalism as a trend makes designers lazy in a physical way, as making these designs takes less work, but also lazy in an intellectual way, as they are not actually thinking about the design and how best to convey their message to the public. If used in an intelligent fashion, minimalism can be used very effectively in communication of the message as well as the corporate identity of the firm they work for.

Hi Charlie,

I love this blog, and this post especially. Thank you so much.

Since I work primarily as a production artist, there does seem to be something to perfection. In my mind, it is a graphic file free of errors and costly mistakes. This is difficult to do, but when your work is the first in a long line of production, perfectionism saves people time and money. Who wants their product to run through 300+ factory workers only to realize it needs to be redone because the artist left off an important dot?

Though, applying perfection to creativity, and “real” artwork (not the production stuff I do) doesn’t fit. People have so many ideas of what makes art or design… perfection simply isn’t possible. It is in the eye of the beholder. I agree with Einstein. It is more important to be an artist of, for and with value, than to be a perfectionist.

This is a great post and i’m so glad I read it!
Not only in graphic design but in any field, people always beat themselves up because they want to be perfect. I think it is extremely important to be satisfied with everything including the things we aren’t too happy about. At the end of the day it’s all about learning and development.

Thanks you did inpired my soul.

I really like this idea about being satisfied whatever you do. In my opinion not only positive designers attract clients, but all the different kinds of professionals are accepted more if they look happy